Would you buy the LG G3? Is it everything you hoped it would be?

Another flagship has joined the race, and this one is pretty special. It has a Quad HD screen (a first among big brand names), a laser-guided focusing system that’s mostly found on DSLR cameras, and a “metallic skin” design that looks like brushed metal, without the drawbacks of aluminum.

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The LG G3 was a bit of a surprise, coming late to a party dominated by devices from Samsung and HTC. But now that it’s here, is it all that you dreamed it would be? Are you impressed with what it offers, or were you hoping for more? What surprised you the most in a good way, and what disappointed you?

Join us in our Friday Debate, sound off in the comments and vote in our poll.

Jonathan Feist

That is one nice display. Do you remember me talking about not wanting a large screen phone? What about when I said I though such ppi resolution was a waste? I take it back. I think. No, I must stick to my opinions, who needs a 5.5-inch display with more pixels than they could count in a week?

Let me be honest, the LG G3 suffers from ‘too little, too late’ for me. Don’t get me wrong, I am in love with this phone, especially the upgraded RAM in the 32GB version, but I lost all excitement when LG failed to put the phone on sale, well, now!

I am still eager to put the G3 in hand, especially want to give the updated rear buttons a go with their ‘meatier ka-chunk’ that I hear people talking about. But mostly, I, like most, want to see what a mobile phone with a display beyond Full HD looks like.

It should speak measures that this is all I have to say about the G3 at this time. I simply see another wonderful Snapdragon 801 powered device with a screen larger than I actually need, running another skinned version of Android that I would likely install a different Launcher over top of.

I applaud LG for bringing a solid device offering to the table. I am honestly considering purchasing this phone, but, you know that ‘new car smell’ you get when you buy exciting stuff? Yeah, that is already gone. Just give me the phone and I’ll go on my merry way.

Joe Hindy

There is a lot the LG G3 is doing that the competition isn’t. The laser-auto-focus feature, the 2K display, the buttons on the back, the insanely large footprint of the screen on the front of the device, and the unique knock code to unlock the phone.

These days, specs are pretty much in a state of parity. You can’t do better than the best chipsets available today anymore. It wasn’t like a couple of years ago when the quad core processor was brand new and there were 3 or 4 makers actually pumping them out. So to gauge the phone on specs alone has become an exercise in futility. Yes, it does have the same specs as the S5 and the One M8 but I prefer to think of it as this: it has the best specs available to date.

I’m a big screen, big battery kind of guy. I play a lot of games on Android for both enjoyment and, you know, that’s kind of what I do around here. So the G3 fits into my wheelhouse perfectly. I definitely want one of these and since there is a 5.5″ phone with a 3000mAh+ battery available that isn’t an embarassment and isn’t from Samsung, I’m stoked that I may not have to lower my screen size to get away from Touchwiz. Don’t get me wrong, I actually love Touchwiz but I’ve also been using it since the Note 2 came out and it’s time for a change.

I dunno how well the phone itself will do. They need to market it correctly obviously and they need to convince phablet fans that this is the real deal and can compete with the Note line up. It’s way better than the Note 3. However, fans of the Note series will likely wait until the Note 4 and since Samsung has a good 5 months before that’s due to be out, I wouldn’t be shocked to see them do something to try to compete better with this phone.

Is it flawless? No. The slim profile and plastic build materials means this thing will break before it hits the ground if you drop it. It’s definitely not meant for the average blue-collar user who does things like construction. That said, I do think this sits with the Xperia Z2, the S5, and the HTC One M8 as the best phones available right now and really that’s all I expected out of LG.

Now, I just need to figure out how to get my hands on one!

Robert Triggs

The LG G2 was probably be favourite smartphone from the big OEMs last generation, and LG looks to have done it again with the G3.

The QHD display is stunning, although we’ll have to see about battery life, and the G3 competes with the best in every other hardware segment too. CPU, RAM, and storage are exactly what you’d expect from a top tier handset, and the camera features build on the already highly impressive LG G2. LG has also made some decent improvements to its software features, arguable the one area where LG has previously lagged behind the competition.

The other huge factor is the price. Although I don’t think we have anything official yet, the expected price range of £400-450 puts this handset a full £100 cheaper than the Galaxy S5. That’s a huge bonus point in my book.

Not only all that, but the G3’s design really leaps out at me. LG seems to have struck the perfect balance of materials, aesthetic looks, and form factor. Those ultra slim bezels really do the large display size justice too. If you ask me, no other current flagship comes close to the G3 in this department.

Say what you will about slow innovation these days, but taking the handset on its own, I’m very impressed. I am seriously considering an upgrade.

Gary Sims

It looks like LG has upped its game once again with the G3. It has got the specs, the looks and some nice innovations. The 2K display is awesome and the laser focus is a neat addition.

However, there are some aspects of the G3 which are difficult to get excited about – another device with Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and lots of RAM., yet another skin on top on Android.

But having said that, the 2K display is clearly something that makes the phone different to many of the current flagship offerings, and the laser focusing could boost the phone’s allure.

Is the G3’s 2K display significantly better than say the display on the Samsung S5? Probably not. Don’t get me wrong, in terms of resolution it is brilliant, but in terms of the overall experience I doubt it is significantly better.

And here is the thing, will users pay the premium for the extras? Clearly this is a flagship device, and it isn’t LG’s only offering. But when it comes to taking money out of their pockets and handing it over, will the 2K display and the laser focus convince consumers that the G3 is what they want? That remains to be seen.

Pricing is really the key point. The OnePlus One offers consumers the same processor plus 64GB of storage, for less money. Sure, the OnePlus One “only” has a HD display, but I don’t think consumers are struggling with screen resolution problems.

The OnePlus One and the LG G3 are both 5.5 inch devices. LG certainly has worked hard to keep the device’s overall dimensions as small as possible. The legendary thin bezels are certainly cool. The OnePlus One is longer than the G3 by 6.6mm but the OnePlus One is actually thinner.

Other than the price, my real concern for the G3 is the choice of a 5.5 inch display. Flagship smartphones just keep getting bigger. Clearly there is a market for very large screen phones, just look at the Galaxy Note range. But the Galaxy Note range (and others) cater to a certain segment of the market. Currently I am sporting a 5 inch device, and I am testing a 5.5 inch device and really for me the jump from 5 to 5.5 is too much. The Galaxy S5 might be acceptable at 5.1 inches but 5.5 is just too big especially if I need to pay lots of money for it. I will say the same for the OnePlus One, I would have preferred the device was only 5 inches, but at that price, who cares!

So bottom line: Neat display, great design and some cool features. But is 5.5 inches too big? With other devices around that are much cheaper, will consumers pay the premium?